Western Diet

The Western Diet

The foods we buy and consume impact our everyday lives in a variety of ways from our health to the economy. The articles, “Escape from the Western Diet,” written by Michael Pollan, and “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” written by David H. Freedman, both describe the supposed lifelong effects of changing your diet. Particularly, the effects that certain foods may have on the public’s health and issues with obesity. Pollan describes what a western diet lacks in its relation to vitamins, nutrients, and micronutrients, using this as an explanation for several illnesses, stating that a plant based diet is the key to better health. In contrast, Freedman argues that the lack of actual evidence that links the typical Western diet
specifically to illnesses, makes it difficult to determine that our diets are directly to blame for health issues. Pollan makes his initial argument by stating that the “Western diet…is chiefly to blame for chronic illness” (421).
Further explaining that the deficiencies of certain nutrients and micronutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, are most likely to blame for possible future health issues. Pollan believes that the only way to combat disease through our diet is by “going backwards to the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors” (423). Essentially, Pollan suggests that we should not worry about what nutrients the food we eat does or does not provide us with, but rather just resolve to eliminate food that “has been processed to such an extent that it is more the product of industry than nature,” but eliminating such foods from our diet is much easier said than done because processed foods can be found in almost every aspect of the food industry (423). Pollan claims that his research on the food chain has led him to believe that “the health of the soil to the health of the plants and animals we eat to the health of the food culture in which we eat them to the health of the eater” (425). Pollan states that in order to live healthier and longer lives, everyone should consume more plants and live strictly on a plant based diet, but that is simply unrealistic. While plants are packed full with many vitamins and nutrients, they lack just as many as they
provide.
Freedman suggests a different theory. Most people tend to believe that fast food is the leading cause for obesity and that an effective solution is to replace that portion of our diets with “fresh, local, unprocessed, local, seasonal, real food” (508). Freedman states that “popular food producers, fast food chains among them, are already applying various tricks and technologies to create less caloric and more satiating versions” of their food, claiming that they “could do far more far more for the public’s health in five years than the wholesome food movement” that Pollan suggest we follow (511). Freedmans strongest argument is that there is “simply no clear, credible evidence that any aspect of food processing or storage makes a food uniquely unhealthy,” and that the population as a whole, is in fact not lacking in any specific vitamin or nutrient because of the range of processed food we consume on a daily basis. The reality is that many nutrients and supplements are implemented into processed foods, which doesn’t necessarily categorize them as healthy, but rather proves that they are not as bad to consume as some are led to believe.
In conclusion, both Pollan and Freedman have unique insights about food and what we consume in relation to our health.
While Pollan believes that we should essentially only consume plants, Freedman believes there is no reason to change the way we eat, as the food industry itself is changing technologically and finding new ways to make processed foods healthier for consumers. While both agree that watching what we consume is important, Pollan never states whether or not he follows the western diet himself while Freedman addresses his claim about the ever changing fast food industry while simultaneously describing the faults in Pollan’s
method.